Assignment Brief As part of the formal assessment for the programme you are required to submit a Literature Review assignment. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments. Learning Outcomes: After completing the module, you should be able to:
1. Demonstrate a critical understanding and depth of knowledge of the core areas of psychology and the ability to assess their relevance in the understanding of the contemporary world
2. Critically understand the main theoretical perspectives and debates in psychology in their historical and contemporary contexts in a reflective way.
3. Read and review psychological research from an informed and critical perspective.
4. Assimilate data and evidence to support a reasoned argument to explain some aspect of human mental life and behaviour.
5. Undertake effective communication and presentation skills to support or strengthen arguments and analysis.
6. Discipline Expertise: Knowledge and understanding of chosen field. Possess a range of skills to operate within this sector, have a keen awareness of current developments in working practice being well positioned to respond to change. Your assignment should include: a title page containing your student number, the module name, the submission deadline and a word count; the appendices if relevant; and a reference list in APA system. You should address all the elements of the assignment task listed below.
Please note that tutors will use the assessment criteria set out below in assessing your work. Maximum word count: 5,000 words Please note that exceeding the word count by over 10% will result in a reduction in grade by the same percentage that the word count is exceeded. You must not include your name in your submission because Arden University operates anonymous marking, which means that markers should not be aware of the identity of the student. However, please do not forget to include your STU number. Page 3 of 7 [1208] Assignment Task This literature review assessment asks you to write an integrated critical evaluation of research on a topic that has previously been studied. Its purpose is to summarise, compare, contrast and/or connect findings that from your reading of selected research, and use this discussion to come to a clear, evidenced conclusion about the topic presented in the brief. This assessment requires you to demonstrate that you have successfully acquired all learning outcomes pertaining to this module. For this literature review, we ask that you follow a particular structure when summarising research. For this assessment, we would like you to summarise the key aims, methods, findings, and conclusions of each key study that you include in the main body. This is to support development of key academic skills such as summarising, assimilating, and clearly communicating research, and to encourage in-depth engagement with, and informed critical analysis of, the key papers you choose. [This required structure does not reflect the only way to write a review – for example, you may come across systematic reviews and review papers in your reading, which follow a different structure. However, for the purposes of this assessment, it is important that you follow the required structure described here.] For this assessment, you must complete a small-scale literature review on this topic within Behavioural Neuroscience:
How have biopsychological studies informed our current understanding of the neural correlates of human memory? You should draw on biopsychological research to answer this question. Biopsychological research is that which combines psychological with biological methods or measures – so here, the biological methods could be, for example, brain imaging (such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging), recording (such as Electroencephalography), or stimulation (such as Transcranial direct-current stimulation).
These are not the only possible methods you could include; they are just examples. To better understand the subdivisions of biopsychology (e.g., neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology, etc.) and their methods please consult chapters 1 and 5 of our key reading: ‘Biopsychology’ (Pinel & Barnes, 2021). You can find it available on Perlego: https://perlego.com/book/2294430/biopsychology-ebook-global-editionpdf You should also choose to focus on one specific type of memory for your review, to allow you to answer in the needed depth. Please, locate at least 8 original empirical biopsychological studies – predominantly published within the last 10 years (3 out of the 8 papers can be older) – on this topic and write 5,000-word literature review on the articles you have selected. You can use additional sources and references to support your discussion. Your assessment must include the following sections: Page 4 of 7 [1208]
1. Introduction: define main concepts; provide necessary background information to set up your essay and provide any needed context; and explain how you will address the topic under review. Here, you can cite additional sources and academic references that were published at any point in time. You are free to cite books, meta-analyses, and reviews in this section. The recommended word count for this section is 1,000 words. 2. Body: explain how you will present the evidence you have reviewed; you can use sub-headings to cluster the articles under the sub-topics you want to discuss, if you would like to; make sure your text provides a concise summary of each study that describes its key elements (aims, methods, findings, and conclusions), and that your discussion includes critical evaluation of every paper included. Your critical analysis should inform your overall argument and conclusion. Please, ensure that your chosen 8 original empirical studies have used biopsychological research methods pertinent to the topic you will focus on. Supporting resources, such as reviews, metaanalyses, books, etc., can only be used in the ‘Introduction’ and ‘Conclusion’ sections, or to support critical discussion around the original empirical studies that must be the core of this section.
The recommended word count for this section is 3,000 words. 3. Summary/Conclusions: make a concise summary of the main points in your literature review and connect these back to the original topic. Include concluding remarks that show your understanding of the literature you have reviewed. You should make sure your conclusions follow from and are fully justified by the research you have reviewed. Here, you can cite additional sources and academic references that were published at any point in time. You are free to cite books, meta-analyses, and reviews in this section. The recommended word count for this section is 1,000 words. 4. Reference list: provide an APA list of all the references you have used in your review. 5. Appendix: Please add a table that clearly lists your core 8 original empirical biopsychological studies. This table helps to demonstrate that you have met the assignment brief. It should only have two columns: ‘Study Number’ and ‘Study in APA reference’. Use a row per each study. The table itself does not need to be formatted following APA conventions.